Netflix attempted to make a huge splash with its Major League Baseball debut on Wednesday night. And so far, the feedback for the streaming giant has been that it may have been bigger than it should have been.
Netflix has the rights to Opening Night, the Home Run Derby, and the Field of Dreams game. And with the streamer has been consistent that it wants big events and not necessarily full season rights deals, they tried to turn the first game of the season between the New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants into just that.
We had full introductions, sets on the field, many celebrity guest stars, an hour-long pregame show, and then another 25 minutes until the first pitch finally happened at 8:25 p.m. ET.
It was all just a little too much. And although there were some bright spots to the telecast, there were also plenty of swings and misses. As we learned once again as a nation, a little bit of Bert Kreischer goes a long way.
But one of the overriding thoughts was that Netflix leaned in way too hard on self-promotion in their effort to convince new baseball fans that may have subscribed for the game to stick with the service. And that’s a belief that Dan Patrick echoed on Thursday.
“It was just too much Netflix. It was as if I was tuning into a powerpoint on Netflix, that there was a baseball game inside of that,” Patrick said. “Like, look at all the things we do. And you’re trying to go, ‘I’m kinda here to watch the baseball game.’ Well, Netflix wants to sell you on Netflix.”
The longtime sports media veteran said that’s not an uncommon tactic from networks. As Patrick cited, we’ve seen television networks place the cast of their latest television show they want to promote strategically in the stands to be featured during a sports telecast. But the sheer amount of commercials, guest appearances, and product placement made it feel more like you were drowning in a tidal wave of self-promotion rather than walking through some raindrops.
Dan Patrick then went through some of his specific thoughts on the personnel that Netflix used, complimenting Elle Duncan and Matt Vasgersian while sharing some criticism for Barry Bonds in trying to talk about some of his history in the sport as a teammate.
But back to the nuts and bolts of the broadcast, DP also felt like Netflix was trying to do too much when they missed the first ABS challenge during an in-game interview.
“You’re watching bells and whistles. I hate the in-game talk to the manager, especially when we miss the first ever challenge for ABS. That didn’t help it,” he said.
In the end, that was the perfect microcosm of the entire evening. Netflix went all out in trying to put the broadcast over the top and present a big event feel. But with all the self-promotion and added special effects, it ended up taking too much away from the actual game itself. Given that’s what fans were there to see, that’s something they will probably want to recalibrate in their approach this summer.
About Matt Yoder